1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for Chinese “Pinyin” (Chinese alphabet) input, and more particularly to a character inputting method and a character inputting apparatus which can be suitably applied to an electronic dictionary or the like in which a Chinese dictionary is installed.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of principal inputting methods for the Chinese language is an inputting method which employs Pinyin. The inputting employing the Pinyin is based on pronunciation, and inputs a syllable which is expressed by the alphabet. Besides, each individual syllable in the Chinese language has an intonation called “Sheng Diao”. The intonations includes four tones (first through fourth tones) and a neutral tone, and the significances of words differ depending upon the tones. In inputting a desired character with the Pinyin, accordingly, it is desirable to input, not only the alphabet, but also the intonation.
It is also possible to input the character with the alphabet only. In that case, however, when only the same alphabetic characters are inputted as the Pinyin, even characters of different tones appear as candidates for characters to-be-inputted, and hence, the number of the candidates become very large to trouble an inputting operation. In a case where the intonation can also be inputted in addition to the alphabet, the number of the candidates for characters to-be-inputted can be decreased, and hence, the inputting operation is simplified.
Methods in the case of inputting the intonations are as described below.
In the first inputting method, a syllable is first inputted with the alphabet, a key such as shift key is depressed, and the intonations are further inputted through a numeral key or the like. By way of example, when the numeral key of “1” is depressed after the depression of the shift key, the first tone is inputted. Desired characters are inputted by repeating such inputting for individual syllables.
In the second inputting method, the alphabet is first inputted, and immediately after a vowel has been inputted, any of the four tones is inputted by depressing specified key such as a four-tone key a predetermined number of times. By way of example, when the four-tone key is depressed once after the depression of the alphabetic key of “a”, the first tone is inputted.
By the way, in a data processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2,506,088, a cursor is automatically moved one space in response to the fact that a key different from a last depressed key in a group of input keys has been depressed in a character input mode, or that an input mode has been changed-over from the character mode to a numeral input mode. Thus, the trouble of the inputting operation is relieved.
In the case of each of the first and second methods, the key other than alphabetic character keys needs to be depressed in the Pinyin inputting operation, and there is the problem that the inputting operation is still troublesome. Moreover, in the case of the second method, the key for inputting the intonations needs to be additionally disposed, and a cost is raised.